Need some help this month? Want to feed your family well without a lot of hassle? Check out these make ahead meals for busy moms. Sweet and Sour Pulled Chicken Sandwiches Whether you teach your kids at home or are running the carpool to school, your days are filled. Having survived the first week of school […]

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A personalized planner is a blank slate system that allows you to tweak and adapt it to fit your needs and help YOU. Life as Mom contributor, Prerna, explains why you need one. One of the first things I did when I discovered blogs and organizing solutions was to create a home management binder. My most successful […]

Organize Your Life as MOM

How do you know if you should stay home full-time? A reader wrote in with this question, one that I thought could benefit from a range of perspectives and answers. I’d love to hear your advice for this young mom on how you decided to become a stay at home mom or why not. I […]

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Brave Writer Help for High School is one of the new items of homeschool curriculum that we’re using this year. I’m excited for my teen boys to go through this self-paced course. This post is sponsored by Brave Writer. I have been compensated for my time spent writing as well as given sample product. For the […]

The Weekly Ramble

Are you looking for a little instant ease when it comes to kids home for summer vacation? I totally get you. Check out the Summer Survival Guide . It's chock-full of great ideas to organize your summer and enjoy great times with yours kids.

The weekly ramble, where I blog like it’s 2004.

This post does include affiliate links. If you make a purchase through those links, I am paid a small amount in way of advertising fees. Your price does not change, but your purchase indirectly helps support this site. So thanks!

Years ago, I invested in a set of snowmen mugs. We had four boys and lived in the frozen tundra called Olathe, Kansas. We were well-acquainted with snowmen. I won two mugs as a white elephant gift and bought two more from Target. With each girl’s first Christmas, or second or third, if we’re honest, I added a mug so that come holiday time, they’d each have a special mug to drink from. It’s one of our holiday traditions: to bust out the mugs and the snowman cookie jar.

Last year one of the mugs cracked and was repurposed as a candle holder. (It’s quite pretty, actually with the light flickering.)

This year, I had to buy a new snowman mug. That snowman pictured there is our new addition. And he is pretty popular. FishChick7 very slyly slips it off the shelf when her sister’s not looking. She looks really surprised when FishChick5 exclaims about it. (Between you and me, I think she’s claimed it as her own.)

He is pretty cute.

Freezing in California

This week I felt like a snowman. I know, I’ve gotten soft since I moved back to the Golden State. But, seriously. The thermostat has been set at 62 and I’m literally shivering in my boots. I’m wearing shoes all day now to keep the lift under my left foot, so I am warmer than barefoot, but still! Yesterday I said we didn’t need anything, but I was wrong. I need several layers of fur pelts!

My apologies to those who live in truly cold places. I am a wimp. And a cheap wimp. Energy is so expensive this year, I’ve not turned on the furnace, though I’d really, really, really like to.

Reading great books

Since we’re all huddled in a ball trying to keep warm here, the kids and I finished North! Or Be Eaten by Andrew Peterson. We’re rereading the entire Wingfeather Saga in anticipation of the fourth and final installment, due to my inbox by the end of the month! We participated in the Kickstarter for The Warden and the Wolf King and are eager to receive our early proof of the book.

If you don’t own these books already, I highly recommend them! Our whole family from top to bottom has enjoyed them. I read them to the older boys starting about five years ago. This reread clues FishChick7 and FishBoy9 into the storyline. So fun!

We’ve spent many hours reading this week and it’s been so good for my soul.

Worshiping God

Speaking of balm to my soul…. I’ve had some really good workouts this week at the gym. I only went three times, but it was great, especially listening to the David Crowder Band station on Pandora. This I Am song was so encouraging to me. I’ve been reading great stuff on my tablet while I “walk briskly” on the treadmill, listening to worship music.

Yeah, sounds totally geeky, but that’s okay. It’s been a great way to start my day.

Coming next week:

Be sure to let me know what stories and articles are helpful to you and what you’d like to see more of in the coming weeks. I want to make your “life as MOM” as fun and as easy as possible.

This post does include affiliate links. If you make a purchase through those links, I am paid a small amount in way of advertising fees. Your price does not change, but your purchase indirectly helps support this site.

We keep our thermostat set in the low 60’s, too. Last winter we saved well over $1000 by doing this. It gets really cold where we live (it’s 1 below zero right now) and our house is big & expensive to heat. I wear a thick, fleecy sweatshirt and ugg boots all day to keep warm. I find that after a few weeks, we get acclimated to having a cooler house. Then when we go to someone’s house who has their heat turned up higher, it feels like a sauna!

Sad. We have been waiting with baited breath for a LONG time for book 4 of the Wingfeather Saga, and had NO IDEA that there was a kickstarter project. We are bitterly envious of your pre-release download.

For another good family (or personal) read along similar lines as the Wingfeather Saga, we’ve been enjoying N.D. Wilson’s Ashtown Burials series, beginning with The Dragon’s Tooth.

Bummer! I follow AP on Instagram and Facebook and probably get the emails, too, so that’s what kept me in the know. There were a lot of goodies in the kickstarter. It’s gonna be real fun. Hopefully, all the extra products will be available for purchase as well. I bet they have a FAQ on that in case you missed it.

I’m in Cairo Egypt and it is sunny almost all year but Without any kind of heating . Temp will be between 53 and 35 for at least a month, we wear mittens and double socks at home . I sometimes will bake a cake just to get the kitchen warm LOL
One American was visiting last winter and she said she was freezing , we asked how come if USA is way colder ? She said : I am freezing at home LOL

Welcome to Life as MOM! I'm FishMama, chief cook and bottle washer around here. I have six kids under 18, and I've lived to tell the tale. Want to know how to make the most out of what you have where you are? You've come to the right place.

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